As consumer preferences and improved technology results in smaller electronic devices, the space available on electronic devices for displays and keypads and other user interfaces is increasingly limited. Keypads and touch sensitive screens have been engineered for space efficiency in these environments. However, the functionality and/or ease of use may be compromised in an effort to decrease the size of the user interface.
For example, portable or handheld devices, such as a mobile terminal, may provide various functionalities or operational modes, such as communication, games, and multi-media rendering. To decrease the number of user keys used in a keypad, a particular key may be used in connection with different functionalities depending on the operational mode. For example, in the communication mode, a single key may be used for entering a “1”, whereas the same key in the multi-media mode may be used for initiating a “play” command for rendering multi-media data. A display may also be used to indicate which mode is active on the handheld device.
Multifunctional keys may be confusing to a user. Several symbols may need to be provided in a relatively small area. This may be a problem as the physical area available in a portable communication apparatus for each key is limited. As a result, the symbols may be relatively small and difficult to read. Furthermore, it may be difficult to distinguish the symbols from each other and/or be confusing for the user because the functionality of the key may be unclear.